Badgers get No. 4 seed in NCAA hockey tournament

Wisconsin faces top-seeded UMass-Lowell Friday afternoon

The Wisconsin Badgers' men's hockey team, coming off a 22-12-7 season that ended with a 3-2 victory over Colorado College in the WCHA championship game, have earned a No. 4 seed in the 2013 Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championship tournament.

Placed in the northeast region, Wisconsin will face the No.1 seeded UMass- Lowell (26-10-2) on Friday at 3:30 p.m. at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Joining the Badgers from the WCHA are Minnesota, North Dakota, Minnesota State, Denver, and St. Cloud State.

If the Badgers win Friday, they would face the winner of the Denver/New Hampshire in a game that would take place Saturday at 5:30 p.m.

The Badgers enter the national tournament as the 2013 WCHA Final Five champion, having won six straight games. The conference tournament title marked the program’s 12th WCHA playoff crown, its first Broadmoor Trophy since 1998, and its first ever under head coach Mike Eaves.

"I think that every team in this tournament can beat any other team," Eaves said. "We’ve seen that all year in our league and playing in our non-conference games. Any team in this 16-team tournament can win. The issue for us is maintaining what we have and keep rolling."

Wisconsin has won six NCAA titles, including most recently in 2006. The Badgers also won titles in 1990, 1983, 1981, 1977, and 1973.

Top-ranked Quinnipiac is the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA hockey tournament despite a loss in its conference tournament semifinals.

The Bobcats are joined by UMass-Lowell, Minnesota, and Notre Dame as the No. 1 regional seeds in the 16-team field announced Sunday.

Quinnipiac (27-7-5), which lost to Brown 4-0 in the East Coast Athletic Conference semifinals, is the No. 1 seed in the Northeast Regional and will play Canisius on Saturday in Providence, R.I.

The other two teams playing in Providence are ECAC champion Union and defending national-champion Boston College.

The rest of the field features Wisconsin, Denver, New Hampshire, Yale, North Dakota, Niagara, St. Cloud State, Miami (Ohio), and Minnesota State.

The Frozen Four is in Pittsburgh.

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